Finland encouraged to further sharpen its tools to prevent corruptionPress Release

Strasbourg, 27 March 2013– Finland
has an effective system for preventing corruption among members of
parliament, judges and prosecutors. However, there is still room for
improvement – particularly with regard to conflicts of interest among
parliamentarians.

These are the main findings of an
evaluation
report published today by the Council of Europe’s Group of States
against Corruption (GRECO).

The report noted that Finland is widely
regarded as being one of the least corrupt countries in Europe, and that
perceptions of corruption among parliamentarians, judges and prosecutors are
relatively low. Despite a long tradition of limited regulation in this area,
Finland also has a good record of implementing anti-corruption measures
suggested by GRECO itself.

GRECO nevertheless stressed that the
authorities should not underestimate the risks of corruption resulting from
conflicts of interest. It recommended drawing up a Code of Conduct for
parliamentarians, as well as clarify exactly what is meant by “conflict of
interest” and tightening up rules on gifts and the disclosure of outside
links.

GRECO also recommended that the recently-adopted Ethical
Principles for Judges should be widely disseminated, and that closer
attention should be paid to judges’ additional activities, notably
arbitration work, to maintain public confidence. Prosecutors also need a
comprehensive set of ethical standards, backed up by specialised training
and possibly also specific legislation

Today’s report has been
published with the agreement of the Finnish authorities, which should report
back on measures taken to implement the eight recommendations included in
the report by the end of September 2014. GRECO will then assess the extent
to which its recommendations have been implemented through a further
“compliance report” in the first half of 2015.